Side Bet Option for Texas Hold&#39;Em Community Cards

ABSTRACT

A variation of Texas Hold&#39;em is disclosed, where the players are allowed to make a side bet before the game. If the five community cards dealt in the conventional Texas Hold&#39;em game constitute a winning hand in the side bet game, the side bet players win an award generally proportional to the odds of obtaining that winning hand. Thus, even players that fold during the underlying game remain excited about winning in the side bet game. The side bet game does not affect the underlying, conventional game in any way. If the game ends before five community cards are dealt, the side bets carry over for the next game. The house profits from the side bets since the house keeps the side bets if the community cards do not form a winning hand. The game may be played in a casino or on-line. Non-players may also make the side bet.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the game of Texas Hold'em poker and similargames with community cards and, in particular, to a side bet option insuch a game.

BACKGROUND

Texas Hold'em poker is one of the most popular poker games playedon-line and in casinos.

In the conventional game of Texas Hold'em, each player receives twocards face down before wagering commences. These two cards are calledhole cards. Wagering commences with the player to the left of the dealerand moves around the table (virtual or physical) clockwise. Afterplayers have either wagered or exited (folded), three community cards(called the flop) are drawn and placed in front of the dealer for use byall the players. The players can now make a five card hand with theirtwo cards plus the three community cards. Wagering again continues withpossible raises or folded hands. A fourth community card (called theturn) is then drawn by the dealer and the players continue as in theprevious round of play. If more than one player remains, a fifthcommunity card (called the river) is drawn and play continues as the twoprevious rounds. The game is then over. Standard poker rules apply tothe ranking of hands. The full official rules of Texas Hold'em areincorporated herein by reference.

One drawback of the conventional Texas Hold'em is that, once a playerfolds, the player is completely out of the game and disinterested.

What is needed is a variation of Texas Hold'em that does not change therules of the conventional game but adds more excitement for at least theplayers that have folded.

SUMMARY

A method of playing a variation of Texas Hold'em poker is described fora casino game or an on-line game. One or more players place a side betindependent of playing the underlying poker game. One or more cards aredealt face down to players of the poker game as part of the underlyingpoker game. A plurality of community cards, such as five, is dealt overthe course of the underlying poker game for use by all players as partof the underlying poker game. After the underlying poker game is over,and five community cards have been dealt, awards are granted to the oneor more players that have placed the side bet if the community cards bythemselves form a winning hand, independent of the underlying pokergame. The award amount for the side bet is predetermined and depends onthe best poker hand that is made with the five community cards. If theunderlying game ends without five community cards being dealt, theremaining community cards can be dealt or the side bets can be carriedover to the next game until five community cards are dealt.

A progressive pot may also be accumulated for splitting among the sidebet players in the event a straight flush, four of a kind, or otherimprobably hand is obtained by the community cards. Such a progressivepot may become very high and draw new players to the game.

In one embodiment, non-players of the underlying game may also placeside bets on the community cards, allowing many non-players to beindirectly involved in the game. This does not affect the underlyinggame.

The side bet option is applicable to other underlying games as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top down view of a poker table, whether physical or virtual,which designates special areas for a side bet in accordance with theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one embodiment, a method of playing a variation of Texas Hold'em orother card game that involves community cards is disclosed. Theunderlying game of Texas Hold'em is used as an example to explain theinvention. Similar poker games using the basic principles of TexasHold'em are equally applicable to the present invention and differ invarious ways, such as the number of down cards, the order of the cardsbeing dealt, the number of cards dealt, or betting rules. The cards arefrom a conventional 52 cards physical or virtual deck. The cards areshuffled (randomized) after each game.

The conventional Texas Hold'em game is not affected at all by theinvention, but a side bet option is added. Before the players are dealtthe two hole cards, any of the players may make a side bet by placingone or more chips (or making another suitable designation) in a specialside bet area of the poker table for each player. The side bet may be afixed amount or the player can bet up to a limit. The side bet isbetting on the poker hand made by the five community cards drawn by thedealer at the end of the underlying game. Once the conventional portionof the game has started, the players cannot make or add to the side bet.

FIG. 1 illustrates a poker table 10 for up to ten players. The playerareas are labelled 1-10, where the down cards are dealt to each playerand where the player keeps his chips. The physical or virtual table 10may accommodate more or fewer players. In the case of on-line play, itis possible that a large number of players may be concurrently playingthe underlying game with the side bet option.

There is a side bet area 12 between each adjacent pair of players (e.g.,players 1 and 2; players 3 and 4). The players make the side bets byplaying the side bet, such as chip 14, in the designated area 12 forthat player's side bet. The chip 14 is in the player number 5 side betarea 12. To avoid the side bet chips 14 being mixed with the chipsplayed during the conventional part of the game, the dealer moves allthe side bet chips to designated areas 16 for each player. The areas 16are labelled 1 through 10, corresponding to the player areas 1-10. Thedealer then deals out two hole cards to the players, then subsequentlydeals out the community cards 18, with betting as in the conventionalgame. The center area of the table 10 is for betting chips in theconventional aspect of the game. In the example of FIG. 1, it is assumedthe conventional Texas Hold'em game has finished, and the five communitycards 18 create a royal flush, which awards each side bet player 5000chips for a one chip bet. The amount won in the conventional part of theTexas Hold'em game is completely independent of the award for the sidebet game.

The entire game may be virtual, and the players bet with virtual chips.

After the conventional part of the Texas Hold'em game is completed(i.e., a player has won the game) and if the community cards are nowfive in number, the dealer will then pay winning side bets at the oddsspecified or, if there are no winners of the side bet, then the dealerwill collect the side bets for the house. The conventional portion ofthe Texas Hold'em game is unaffected, with the winning player taking thepot.

Accordingly, even if a player folds, that player is still involved inthe side bet game and has a chance of winning, adding excitement to thegame. Additionally, a losing player that stayed in the game to the endand made the side bet may receive a consolation prize by winning on theside bet.

If all players but one folds before the five community cards are dealt,the dealer may complete the dealing of the five community cards, or theside bets may be held over for subsequent games until five communitycards are dealt.

The side bet is applicable to casino games as well as on-line games withone or more players. The game may also be played using a mechanical orelectronic gaming machine (using a display screen) with one or moreplayers.

In one embodiment, the winning poker hands that may be obtained with thefive community cards are as follows:

Two pair:—using four of the five cards to make two pairs

Three of a kind:—using three of the five cards to make three of a kind

Straight:—using all five cards to make a straight of a single suit(e.g., 2,3,4,5,6)

Flush:—using all five cards with all five cards of the same suit

Full House:—using all five cards to make a three of a kind along with apair

Four of a kind:—using all five cards to make four of a kind

Straight Flush:—using all five cards to make a straight in the same suit

Royal flush :—using all five cards to make 10, jack, queen, king, andace of the same suit.

There is no win for a pair. The house is guaranteed to make a profit onthe side bet, in the long term, since the house keeps the side bets ifthere is no winning hand, and the payoff for each winning hand isgenerally proportional to the odds of achieving the winning hand.

In one embodiment, the player wins the follow multiple of the side betfor a winning hand, generally proportional to the odds of that handoccurring:

Two pair:—5 to 1

Three of a kind:—10 to 1

Straight:—25 to 1

Flush:—50 to 1

Full House:—75 to 1

Four of a kind:—250 to 1

Straight flush:—2,000 to 1

Royal flush:—5,000 to 1

The above odds may be varied according to the operator's choosing. Alsogaming authorities may choose to control the payoffs to limit thehouse's theoretical long term profits from the side bet, such as to7.5%.

The award granted in the side bet game is completely independent of anywager or win in the underlying, conventional aspect of the game.

The present invention of a side bet on displayed cards may also beapplied to any other game where five cards are displayed face up. Forexample, in the games of 6-card stud or 7-card stud, a dummy hand may beused to create a five card community poker hand, or the side bet may bebased on any one of the players' up cards. Therefore, players that havefolded, but made a side bet on the five up cards, are essentially stillin the game. In such stud games, one or two cards are dealt face downfor each player, and the remaining cards are dealt face up. The playersbet after each card is dealt in the underlying game.

In another embodiment, the underlying game may not involve thedisplaying of five cards but may involve only three or four communitycards. In such a case, the side bet option may still be applied, and thewinning side bet hands and associated awards are based on the three orfour community cards in the underlying game.

In one embodiment, non-players of the underlying game may also make aside bet wager on the community cards. The non-players may be on-line orlive at a casino. Therefore, thousands of such non-players may have afinancial interest in the outcome of the game since no cards need to bedealt to the non-players. This feature has synergy since suchnon-players may not be confident enough to play the underlying gamehead-to-head with other players but want to have a passive role in thegame. Therefore, the non-players add revenue to the casino or on-linesite without any additional overhead by the casino or on-line site,while being entertained with the underlying game. The non-players mayeventually join in the underlying game if there are “seats” available.

A progressive pot may also be accumulated for splitting among the sidebet players in the event a straight flush, four of a kind, or otherimprobable hand is obtained by the community cards. Such a progressivepot may become very high and draw new players to the game. The pot maybe accumulated from a small percentage of all side bets made over time.This progressive side bet pot has synergy since there is no additionaloutlay by the casino or on-line site, yet new players are drawn into thegame by the lure of a high progressive pot, adding even more revenue tothe casino or site while adding to the pot.

The game of the present invention provides a method of side-bettingwhich is interesting to the players without being unduly complicated,and it provides the players with a reasonable expectation of successwhilst maintaining an acceptable house advantage. Further still, thegame provides a variation to a poker game without interfering with orinfluencing how a player plays the main game. In other words, the gameof the present invention adds to but does not detract from theprinciples of the underlying poker game. The side bet game providessynergy since the conventional game is not affected, yet an additionalgame is played that benefits the players and the house, while drawingnew players and non-players (i.e., only side bet players) to the game.

Accordingly, while particular embodiments of the present invention havebeen shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the artthat changes and modifications may be made without departing from thisinvention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims areto encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications thatare within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of playing a card game comprising: oneor more players placing a side bet independent of playing an underlyingpoker game; dealing one or more cards face down to players of the pokergame as part of the underlying poker game; dealing a plurality ofcommunity cards for use by all player as part of the underlying pokergame; and after the underlying poker game is over, and a sufficientnumber of community cards has been dealt, granting awards to the one ormore players that have placed the side bet if the community cards bythemselves form a winning hand, independent of the underlying pokergame.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the underlying poker game isTexas Hold'em poker.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the underlyingpoker game is a variation of Texas Hold'em poker.
 4. The method of claim1 wherein, if an insufficient number of community cards has been dealtwhen the game is over, the side bets are carried over for a subsequentgame until a sufficient number of community cards has been dealt whenthe game is over.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein, if an insufficientnumber of community cards has been dealt when the game is over, dealingone or more additional community cards to provide the sufficient numberof community cards.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the sufficientnumber of community cards is five.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein thesufficient number of community cards is fewer than five.
 8. The methodof claim 1 wherein the game is played with virtual playing cards.
 9. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the game is played with physical playingcards.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is played in a casino.11. The method of claim 1 wherein the game is played on-line.
 12. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising one or more non-players alsoplacing the side bet independent of playing the underlying poker game,where the non-players are not dealt any cards for the underlying pokergame.
 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the awards granted to the one ormore players that have placed the side bet if the community cards bythemselves form a winning hand are predetermined award amounts for eachtype of winning hand.